It was a long weekend for Kylie Jenner, who went out of her way to do something nice, only to get called out by a slew of individuals online. This occurred because Kylie Jenner had asked her large following to donate money to a makeup artist by the name of Samuel Rauda, who had undergone emergency brain surgery. Though she donated money herself, some fans thought the gesture was ridiculous, and now the Keeping up with the Kardashians star has defended herself against those claims.
After the news the makeup artist connected with famous names including the Jenner-Kardashian clan broke, a GoFundMe was set up in Sam Rauda’s name and quickly attained a high volume of donations. Part of this is because Kylie Jenner raised awareness for the GoFundMe account, also publicly donating $5,000 in her name and bringing awareness to the artist's medical issues. But some fans felt the move was not a particularly thoughtful one, given that Kylie is a billionaire (her cosmetics business alone made $420 million in its first 18 months) and could have donated more to the cause, rather than asking her followers from various income levels to donate. The average response looked like this:
Now, Kylie Jenner feels like that’s a “false” narrative. First and foremost, she wanted to clarify in a post on her Instagram Stories that Sam is not her makeup artist, though they have worked together in the past. Per her post, she wouldn’t have even known about Sam’s cause if not for a friend.
I feel it’s important for me to clear up this false narrative that I’ve asked fans for money and am not paying for my makeup artist’s medical bills. Sam isn’t my makeup artist and unfortunately we don’t have a personal relationship anymore but I have worked with him a few years ago and think he’s the sweetest. I saw my current makeup artist and friend Ariel post about Sam’s accident and his family’s GoFundMe and I called Ariel immediately to see what happened to Sam.
Furthermore, according to Kylie Jenner, Sam Rauda’s GoFundMe account allegedly reset the benchmarks after donations began pouring in -- a move that does frequently happen with GoFundMe accounts and that we’ve seen recently with that viral Johnny Depp Pirates petition.
After learning in more detail about the accident it compelled me to visit his GoFundMe which was set at 10k. They had already raised 6k so I put it in 5k to reach their original goal and thought I’d post on my stories to gain more awareness if anyone else felt compelled to share or donate. I don’t know how all of this got so twisted by his family has reached out through Ariel and are very appreciative of all the donations, prayers, and love towards Sam.
At the time of this writing, the GoFundMe page has hit a little over $100K and the new benchmark is $120K, which is expected to be used to pay for Samuel Rauda’s medical expenses and ultimate recovery. An update has mentioned Sam “continues to fight” a week after an “accident” that led the makeup artist to require emergency brain surgery.
Kylie Jenner also say on social that she wants to move on from this narrative and focus on the positives as Sam recovers, also sharing:
Kylie Jenner ultimately cleared up some of the confusion over whose makeup artist Samuel Rauda actually is, but I'm not sure if she appeased her fanbase in regards to why they were annoyed about her post in the first place. Luckily for the reality star, this is the internet, and it's likely the brouhaha will die down shortly. Meanwhile, the end result is that Rauda's family now has money to help cover Sam Rauda's expenses on the long road to recovery ahead. So, I suppose all's well that ends with Kylie Jenner clapping back.
